What's In a Name?
by dancelvr234
Summary: Vicki and Judd are having some trouble finding a name for their new baby boy or girl. However, when Vicki gets an unexpected babysitting job for the day, she realizes that finding a name isn't as hard as she thought.


**Hey guys! So a lot of people have been uploading stories for LB:Kids and when I got this idea for a oneshot I couldn't resist :) This won't be continued it was just a fun idea I had but I would appreciate feedback!**

"What about Jessica?"

"Nah. How about Jason?"

"No. Jaylyn?"

"I've never even heard that name before. Jacob?"

"Not bad but it's still not doing anything for me. Maybe we should pick a different letter."

"But it took us forever to decide on J."

"Yeah, but I'm not too crazy about any of the J names we've come up with. How about M? Or S?"

"Gosh, I didn't realize how hard this was going to be," Judd Thompson lamented as he and his pregnant wife, Vicki, sat down for dinner. The topic of conversation had inevitably come back to the recently popular discussion of names for their unborn child. It had been months since Vicki and Judd had first decided to sit down and think of a name and they were still coming up short. Naturally both soon-to-be parents were starting to get pretty frustrated.

"Well it would be easier if we knew whether the baby was going to be a girl or a boy. That way we could at least narrow down half the choices," Vicki said, picking apart her salad.

"Yeah tell me about it. Maybe we shouldn't do only one letter. I think that just limits us too much."

"But if we don't choose a letter than our options become every single name ever invented. It'd be easier if we decided on one letter for all our kids."

"But what if we choose a letter, name our first kid based on that, then have another and find a really good name that doesn't start with the same letter. Then we can't name the kid what we really want."

"Judd, we're the parents. If we find a really good name for any future kids that doesn't start with the letter we originally chose, we can just drop the whole letter system and name it what we want to name it."

"Yeah, but what if-,"

"Judd, for crying out loud, stop it!" Vicki interrupted sharply. Judd was discovering that the further along Vicki got in her pregnancy, the more easily irritated she became. Judd was treading very dangerous waters. "We'll name the baby what we want. End of story," she said firmly. Judd figured his best option was to accept defeat and go with what she wanted. There was less yelling that way.

"Okay, so you want to do a different letter?"

"Yeah, I'm getting sick of J. Any ideas?"

"Well, I kind of like M. That way we could do biblical names like Matthew or Mark for boys, and good girl names like Megan or Mary," Judd suggested.

"We're not naming our child Mark. Too much history with our Mark."

"Okay, fine. But what do you think about the letter?"

"I like the idea. Megan's a really nice name. And I like Matthew too."

"Okay so we like M. Do you want to settle on M?"

"Sure, we can do M," Vicki agreed. Judd breathed a sigh of relief. Finally they could agree on something.

Suddenly, the phone rang and Judd got up to answer. Vicki tried but being 7 months pregnant has its disadvantages when it comes to mobility.

"Thompson residence...Oh hey...yeah she's right here," Judd said as he handed the phone to Vicki.

"Hello?"

"Vicki! I'm so glad you were home. I have a real problem."

"Oh hey mom, good to talk to you too," Vicki answered her mother sarcastically.

"Please, Vicki, I'm in a hurry and I am not in the mood for your attitude." 22 years old and pregnant and Vicki was still treated like a child by her mother. Some things never get old, she guessed.

"Sorry. What's wrong?"

"I was supposed to watch after one of my friend's granddaughters tomorrow, but Jeannie came down with the flu today and I don't want her anywhere near a six-year-old."

"Um, okay," Vicki figured where this was going but she wanted her mom to ask.

"Anyway, I figured you wouldn't be busy since I know you don't do a lot now that you're so far along." Vicki rolled her eyes at that comment. "I've called a few people who could look after her, but no one can do it. I would really appreciate it if you could help me out with this one, Vicki."

"Mom, I don't think it's a good idea for me to take care of someone with the flu. I mean, what if I get sick and then something could happen to the baby and I-"

"No, not Jeannie. Lainey, my friend's granddaughter."

"Oh. Um, I'm not so sure about that mom."

"Oh come on, it'll be fun! Plus, it will give you great practice!"

"I'm not going to have a six-year-old for another six years, Mom."

"Yeah, but you will eventually. Might as well start practicing now."

Vicki bit her lip. She wasn't so sure she could handle the stress of watching a six-year-old by herself all day. Judd would be out working with Lionel and Ryan so she would be all alone.

"Please, Vicki. I would really appreciate it. And I think you'll have fun. You're so great with kids."

Vicki sighed. She could tell her mom was desperate and it would give her some good practice for taking care of kids. She was going to have to get used to some pretty stressful days up ahead. "Fine, I'll do it."

"Wonderful! Thank you so much. I'll come over at 8:00 tomorrow morning to drop her off and be back to pick her up around 4:00. She should bring plenty of things to keep herself entertained. Movies, coloring books, toys, things like that."

"Okay."

"And there is one thing I should warn you about her."

This doesn't sound good, Vicki thought.

"What's that?" she asked wearily.

"Lainey is...kind of strange. She was born toward the beginning of the Tribulation and remembers a good portion of it too. Her parents were nonbelievers. My friend's daughter adopted her after the Glorious Appearing. She's seen a lot that no six-year-old should have to see. I think it's severely traumatized her. She's very quiet. And she's prone to very strange actions and outbursts. You just have to be patient with her and gentle. She's getting better but it's still pretty bad. But I think you'll do great," Vicki's mom explained.

Vicki didn't like the sound of that. She was good at helping people who were emotionally traumatized but all those people were either teenagers or adults. She had no idea to handle a young child who had been so emotionally damaged. This was not going to be easy.

* * *

After explaining the situation to Judd, Vicki was even more nervous about babysitting Lainey. She lay in bed that night, unable to fall asleep. She kept praying that God would give her the wisdom to take care of this poor child and maybe help Vicki bring some peace to this little girl.

The next day Vicki woke up early. She made a cup of coffee (decaf!) and sat down at the breakfast table. Judd was busy getting ready for another day of work with Lionel and Ryan. She breathed in and out, praying as she did. She hoped this day would go by fast.

Later Judd went off to work and Vicki was left waiting until 8:00 when her mother would drop Lainey off.

At 8:05, the doorbell rang. Vicki took a deep breath and went to answer the door. Her mother stood on her doorstep with a large smile on her face, holding the hand of a small girl with long and straight brown hair and tan skin. Lainey was not smiling.

"Hello," her mother greeted cheerily. "This is Lainey. Lainey, this is my daughter Vicki. Can you say hi to Vicki?"

"Hi," Lainey said in the smallest voice Vicki had ever heard. She could barely even hear her.

"Hi Lainey. It's so nice to meet you," Vicki said with a smile of her own. She figured the overly happy approach would work best with this child.

"Okay, well I have to go. Jeannie was in the process of puking when I left." Vicki made a face. Lainey did nothing. "You two have fun. I'll see you at four!" And with that, Vicki's mom left, leaving Lainey and Vicki alone.

"So, what do you want to do?" Vicki asked.

"I want to color," Lainey said simply, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Okay, you can come over to the table here and color all you want. You know, coloring is one of my favorite things to do. How about you?" Vicki cheerily asked as she led Lainey to the breakfast table in the kitchen.

"I like to color. But I like drawing better," she replied as she unpacked what looked like a sketchbook from the backpack she brought. She also unpacked a pack of crayons and some pencils.

"Oh well, I'm not a very good drawer. But I'll let you be the judge of that. Do you mind if I borrow some of your crayons," Vicki said as she pulled out some of her own paper.

"Sure."

As the two began to color and draw, Vicki asked various small talk questions that would usually get any normal six-year-old talking. But Lainey answered with one or two word answers, never looking up from her work. This was going to be a long day.

"Here what do you think? It stinks pretty bad but hey, at least I tried," Vicki said as she showed Lainey a picture of a sunset with trees and some mountains.

"That's really good," Lainy answered as she observed Vicki's work.

"Oh, you're too sweet."

"No, I'm serious. You're very talented," Lainey said. Vicki could tell she was completely serious. She had never heard someone so young talk the way she did. It startled her.

"Oh. Well no one's ever told me that before."

"Sometimes people will complement someone to everyone but the person they're complementing. The one person who needs to hear it the most."

If Vicki wasn't completely blown away before, she was now.

"Wow. You're very smart for a kid your age."

"I've seen a lot," was Lainey's reply.

"Yeah, you have." This time Vicki's voice wasn't faked cheerfulness. It was sincere and gentle.

They were both silent after that, coloring and drawing in peace. A few times Vicki looked over at what Lainey was working on. Though she wasn't a child prodigy of art, she wasn't half bad for a six-year-old. It was the kind of talent that would translate later in her life. Vicki could tell that when Lainey grew up she would be a fantastic artist.

Eventually, after Vicki had drawn a few smiley faces and landscape scenes with flowers, Lainey turned her sketchbook around so Vicki could see the full effect of her drawing. She, like Vicki, had drawn some mountains with trees and grass during a sunset. It was beautiful.

"Wow, I love it. You're really good at this."

"Thanks," Lainey said shyly.

"I can tell you really like art. Is that what you want to be when you grow up? An artist?"

"I don't know yet. That's too far ahead. But I do really like to draw. I don't know, maybe I could be an artist."

"You've never thought about being an artist?" Vicki asked, mildly surprised. Surely someone would have had the same conversation with her.

"No, not really. I don't show a lot of people my pictures."

"Oh, well you should. You're really good. Much better than me."

"Thank you," Lainey said. Though Vicki could barely see it, she could tell there was a slight smile on Lainey's face. This wasn't going as badly as Vicki thought it would.

* * *

"What about Methusalah?" Ryan Daley commented as he dug his shovel into the ground once more.

"You've got to be joking," Judd said, as he was busy sawing a piece of wood.

The boys had created a small business of sorts helping build houses for people who were trying to settle down in the new world. It was hard work, but they all enjoyed helping people while still fellowshipping with one another.

"No. It would be a great name. It's Biblical. And the Methusalah from the Bible was a pretty awesome dude. He lived longer than anybody. It's a perfect name!" Ryan defended his option.

"I'm not naming my child Methusalah, Ryan."

"Fine, it's your loss."

Judd rolled his eyes. He knew he shouldn't have brought up the name topic with the guys.

"So it has to start with an M, right?" Lionel asked.

"Yeah, that's what Vicki and I want. Well, I'm not so crazy about the one letter thing but we both like a lot of M names so I guess it's not that bad."

"What about Micah?" Lionel suggested. "I always thought that was a cool name, plus its got some pretty awesome Biblical significance."

"Not bad. Though I'm not sure Vicki would like it. She's not very into the old Hebrew names from the Bible, regardless of whether they're popular or not."

"What about girl names?" Ryan asked.

"Well Vicki mentioned she liked the name Megan but she didn't sound very thrilled about it so I don't know. I've thought about a few, but I haven't brought them up with Vicki."

"Like what?" Lionel asked.

"Meredith, Mary, Margaret (which we would shorten to Maggie), Mallory, Madeline-,"

"A few, huh," Lionel interrupted with a chuckle.

"Hey, this is my future child's name. I want to explore all the options."

"Uh, huh."

"I like Mallory a lot," Ryan said.

"My favorite is Madeline. Because not only is it pretty but you could shorten it to Maddy, which is a pretty cute name for a little girl," Lionel commented.

"Well in the end it's going to have to be something Vicki and I can agree on and something we really like a lot. Plus, we want it to be significant."

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked.

"It's got to mean something to the both of us. We want to have a really good reason for picking the name. Something we can tell him or her about later in their life."

* * *

After an hour or so of coloring pictures, Lainey decided she was bored of doing that and wanted to play a game.

"Okay, what kind of game do you want to play? We don't have many games here, unless you want to play with some of those little baby toys," Vicki offered jokingly.

Lainey just shook her head and ventured into Judd and Vicki's living room, looking at the pictures on the walls. After the Glorious Appearing, many of Judd and Vicki's old pictures had "mysteriously" shown up in a box on their doorstep one day. Vicki didn't ask questions about how the pictures got there or how they were salvaged from the wreckage of both their old homes. She just called it a mini miracle and said of prayer of thanks that night.

"You were a cute baby," Lainey suddenly said, pointing out one of Vicki's baby pictures sitting in a frame on a table.

"Oh, thank you. Although I'm a firm believer that all babies are cute," she said as she absentmindedly ran a hand over her stomach.

"Me too," Lainey quietly added still perusing the pictures.

"So, you wanted to play a game?" Vicki asked after a few minutes of awkward silence.

"I'd rather hear your story."

"What?" Vicki asked, very confused.

"I like looking through pictures and hearing people's stories."

"Why?" Vicki asked.

Lainey shrugged her shoulders and replied, "It makes me happy. Most people here have sad stories that have happy endings," Lainey paused and looked down at her shoes. "I feel like I have a happy story with a sad ending."

Vicki was blown away by that comment. She couldn't even imagine what this little girl had seen. "I'm sorry," was all she could say.

Again Lainey shrugged her shoulders and said, "Not your fault."

"Or yours."

"I know," Lainey said, quieter than Vicki had ever heard her speak.

Lainey looked away from the pictures and went to sit on the couch. Vicki came and sat down next to her.

"Do you miss your parents?" Vicki asked. It was a question she had been wanting to ask since Lainey got here, but she didn't want to trigger anything. She felt as if now was the best time.

Lainey shook her head yes.

"Do you like your new parents?"

"Yeah, they're okay."

"You know, I know this can be hard for you to understand sometimes, but you're so much better off here than you were before Jesus came."

"I know that. I'm not sad that I'm here. I'm just sad that my mom and dad aren't with me," she said as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Vicki was surprised that Lainey hadn't shown any emotion before this, but she guessed that she was used to bottling up her feelings.

Vicki came around to kneel in front of Lainey, which was pretty difficult considering her size. "Lainey, I want to say something and I want you to hear me out, okay?"

Lainey nodded.

"You are special. You are precious. You are beautiful. You will make a name of yourself. And you will overcome this. I know it."

Lainey looked down for a while before raising her eyes to meet Vicki's. A small smile crossed her face. "Thank you."

Vicki could tell she was sincere.

* * *

Vicki's mom knocked on her daughter's door at 4:01 in the afternoon that day. Vicki answered with a smile and welcomed her mom into her house.

Lainey and Vicki were busy coloring at the breakfast table yet again. As Vicki's mom walked in, Lainey was putting her sketchbook and crayons back in her backpack.

Before she left, Vicki's mom pulled her daughter into the living room while Lainey was putting her things away.

"So, how did it go?" she asked.

"Really well. Thank you so much for making me do this."

"Oh I'm so glad."

Lainey and Vicki's mom walked out the door, not before Lainey came up and gave Vicki a hug goodbye, a gesture that touched Vicki's heart more than she could say. As she watched the two leave, Vicki thought about what God had taught her through this poor little girl, who's real parents she would never see again. The rest of the day had gone smoothly without any more incidents but Vicki was grateful just to spend time with this unique little girl. Vicki could honestly say a part of her was radically changed today. She was now felt she was more ready than ever to be a parent.

When Judd came home that day, Vicki gave him few details about Lainey's visit. She figured the encounters the two had had were private and only to be shared among each other.

As she was making dinner for her and her husband, a sudden thought occurred to her. She was surprised she didn't think of it before.

"Honey?" she called to Judd who was reading in the living room.

"Yeah?"

She walked into the living room and stood in front of her husband. "I know we agreed on only having M names, but what do you think about the name Lainey?" she asked.

Judd pondered the suggestion for a few moments before looking back up at his wife with a smile, "I love it."

**I hope you guys like it! Leave me a review and let me know what you thought!**


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